Closure inspecting device



Sept. 26, 1939. c. MowRER CLOSURE INSPECTING DEVICE Filed May 29, 1937gmc/YM M Maw-1^ lha; 4,/

Patented Sept. 26, 19.39

UNITED vsm'rlazs CLOSURE INSPECTIN G DEVICE Clair Mowrer, Lancaster,Pa., assigner to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporationof Pennsylvania Application May 29, 1937, Serial No. 145,635

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a closure inspecting device which isparticularly adapted for segregating and classifying closures aftersealing liner inserting operation. The device is preferably soconstructed and arranged that those closures which, upon inspection, arefound to be satisfactory for use are delivered to one station (or aredelivered to other apparatus if subsequent operations are to beperformed thereon) and those closures which are defective by reason ofthe sealing liners being broken, of less thickness than thepredetermined standard, or which haveI through failure of the insertingmachine or otherwise, been fed to the inspection device without liners,are delivered to a second station where they may be salvaged ordestroyed. A device of this type is particularly useful in theinspection of crown shells wherein it is essential that the liners be ofaccurate thickness.

'I'he device comprises means for supporting closure members to beinspected, an inspecting member adapted to enter closures positioned onsaid support and to engage the sealing liners therein, control meansresponsive to the position of the inspecting member and effective fordetermining further movement of the closures from the inspectingstationor for initiating a suitable signal, and means for sequentiallypresenting closure members to the inspection member. The device ispreferably associated with assembling, spotting, paraiilning or otherclosure fabricating equipment in order to combine the inspectionoperation with another operation, thus avoiding duplicate handling ofthe members to be inspected. If the inspecting device be associated withan assembly or spotting machine, the usual finger bar moving mechanismmay be utilized to sequentially present the closure members forinspection. If it be desired to deliver the rejected closures to asuitable bin or receptacle, a portion of the supporting rails alongwhich the closures are sequentially moved by the finger bar may be maderetractile, and retraction thereof effected by the control means.Adjusting mechanism may be provided so that the device may accommodateclosures of diierent sizes and liners of different thicknesses.

Referring to the drawing which illustrates one embodiment of myinvention,

Figure l is an end elevation, partly in section and partly broken away,showing my inspection device mounted for operation upon a crown sealfabricating machine including a finger bar moving mechanism;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line lI--II of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line III--III of Figure 1,showing the inspecting plunger.

The linger bar feeding mechanism comprises a toothed member 2 fastenedto a slide 3 adapted for oscillatory and reciprocatory movement upon abearing channel 4. Teeth 5 provided in the member 2 are shaped to engagethe skirts of a series of closures 6 which are supported for movement ina step-by-step manner along the machine upon spaced rails 1 and 8 havingrecessed portions 9 and I0 to receive the flanged portion of the closureskirt. Cover plates II and I2 overlie the guide rails 1 and 8 andprevent vertical displacement of the shells. Coincidental oscillatoryand reciprocatory movements are imparted to the member 2 by cranks suchas shown at I3, to which member 2 is pivoted by pin I4; the movementimparted by the crank I3 being such that the closures 6 are sequentiallypresented to an inspecting member I5 mounted on a frame I6 spanning thefinger bar feeding mechanism and lie at rest in such position for aperiod of time While inspection is being eii'ected.

The inspecting member I5 (Figure 3) comprises a spring urged headedplunger I1 movable within a sleeve I8 threaded into support I6 andsecured in position by means ofv a lock nut I 9. Portion of the plungerI1 is of reduced diameter and moves within a sleeve 2l, which sleeve inturn moves within sleeve I8. A guide collar 22 for a bifurcated rockerarm 23 encircles the portion 20 of thegplunger I1, is freely movablethereon, and rests on top of sleeve 2l. Upon rocking motion of arm 23,vertical motion is imparted to sleeve 2l which in turn imparts a similarmotion to plunger I1 through a spring 24 positioned between the head ofplunger I1 and the lower end of sleeve 2 I. A return spring 25 normallyurges collar 22 into engagement with contact bar 26 threaded to plungervI1 and locked by a nut 21. Spring 24 normally urges sleeve 2| intoengagement with maintained in such position for a short period oftime,corresponding to the period in which the closures 6 are at rest on thesupport. Coincidentally with rocking of arm 23, collar 22 is moveddownwardly, thus moving sleeve 2| within sleeve I8 and compressingspring 25. Plunger I1 is likewise moved downwardly-sleeve 2| operatingthrough spring 24 to impart such movement. So long as there be norestriction in the path of plunger I1, the contact bar 26 follows collar22, but upon engagement of plunger I1 with a liner disposed within theclosure under inspection, movement of plunger I1 ceases and continuedmovement of collar 22 results only in lcompression of spring 24. Sincecontact bar 26 is fixed to plunger I1, it willl maintain its positionwith respect thereto. The device is so adjusted that contact 3|, whichis adjustably secured to contact bar 26, is out of engagement with asimilar contact 32, attached to an insulated support 33, when plunger I1is in engagement with a liner of proper thickness disposed within theclosure under inspection, but contacts 3| and 32 will lie in engagementif the liner in the closure under inspection be of less than therequired thickness or if the closure has no liner disposed therein.

From the foregoing, it will be clear that as the finger bar mechanismmoves closures sequentially into the inspection station, the inspectingplunger is moved into the closure arriving at the inspection station anddwells therein until the finger bar is about to move the inspectedclosure therefrom and present the next sequential closure thereto, andthat the inspecting plunger actuates a pair of contacts, engagementthereof being effected if the closure is found to be defective, but soarranged as to be out of 'contact when satisfactory closures areinspected.

The contacts may be used to effectuate any desired signal or control. Inmy preferred embodiment, a retractile rail section 34 is provided inorder that rejected closures will be removed from the supporting railsand discarded. The retractile section 34 is guided in ways 35 providedin a finger bar frame 36 and is secured by a link 31 to an iron core 38of a solenoid coil 39. Link 31 passes through frame I6 and the railsection 34 is normally urged into alignment with the adjacent railsections by a spring 4|| disposed between frame I6 and a 'collar 4Isecured to the link 31, movement of the rail section 34 being limited bystops 42, shown in Figure 2. This figure shows the finger bar mechanismin an intermediate position in order to clearly illustrate the alignmentof the rail sections. During inspection, the closures under inspectionwill be disposed Wholly within the retractile rail section in order thatupon retraction thereof the closure may fall. by

gravity into a chute 43 communicating'with ay suitable receptacle orbin.

Solenoid coil 39 is secured within bracket 44 forming part of frame I6and an adjustable stop 45 is positioned within the coil to limitmovement of the core 38 upon energization of the coil 39. 'I'hemagnitude of movement necessary for retracting the rail section 34 in anamount sufiicient to permit the closures 6 under inspection to fall intochute 43 depends upon the type of closures being inspected and thelength of the flange or bead disposed within the recesses 9 and ||I ofthe rail sections. For that reason, an adjusting screw 45 is provided toproperly position stop 45.

Energizati'on of rcoil 39 is effected only after contacts 3| and 32 arein engagement; the circuit being from one side of a source of current Sthrough lead 43 to contact bracket 41, through bolt 48 (which isthreaded in bracket 41) contact bar 26 to contact 3 I, and from contact32 through lead 49 to the coil 39.- The other side of the current sourceS is connected to the coil by a lead 50. By utilizing bolt 48, afiexible connection between bracket 41 and reciprocable conta'ct bar 26is eliminated. Bolt 48 also provides an adjustable limiting stop for theinspecting member I5; the head 5| of the bolt limiting upward movementof the contact bar 26.

If desired, a condenser may be provided across the contacts 3| and 32 inorder to minimize arcing but' if a low current solenoid be employedthiswill not be necessary even though the device be adjusted to rejectthose closures having liners which are a few thousandths of an inchunder size. Under such conditions, the contacts will come within acorresponding distance from each other at each inspecting step.

In the operation of the illustrated control, when contacts 3| and 32engage, circuit is completed for current supply to solenoid 39 and core38 is magnetically drawn within the coil and into engagement with thelimiting stop 45, rail section 34 is retracted against the pressure ofspring 4|) and the closure B being inspected falls by gravity into chute43 which delivers it to a suitable receptacle. The spring 40 returns therail section 34 to its normal position upon deenergization of coil 39effected upon movement of contacts 3| and 32 out of engagement uponelevation of the inspecting member I5 as heretofore described.

The device is so constructed that it may be removed as a unit from themachine to which it is applied by removing bolts 52 and 53 and a pin 54which secures link 31 to rail section 34. T'he device is convenientlyadjustable to within narrow limits and may be readily adapted foroperating upon different types of closures. For example, by substitutingfor rails 8 and 9 a pair of rails having recesses to accommodate thebead on a single shell continuous thread closure, the inspection devicemay be utilized for liner inspection of such closures. Finer inspectionmay be had with the device of this invention than that attainableheretofore where inspectors closely examined the closures as they passedbefore them on a suitable conveyor. The labor savings incident to theuse of the device are obvious; the labor 'costs being entirelyeliminated where the device is incorporated with other closurefabricating equipment.

While I have described and illustrated the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that the invention is not so limitedbut may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims:

I claim:

l. A closure inspecting device comprising a closure support, a fingerbar for sequentially moving closures along the support, means forimparting coincidental oscillatory and reciprocatory movement to saidfinger bar, an inspecting member mounted for vertical reciprocatorymovement into and out of closures on said support, a rocker armengageable with the inspecting member to impart'vertical reciprocatorymotion thereto, a cam on the finger bar for imparting rocking motion tosaid arm and control means responsive to the position of the inspectingmember within the closure.

2. A closure inspecting device in accordance with claim 1 in which theinspecting member is adjustably supported to permit predetermination ofthe position to be assumed by said inspecting member within said closureto initiate said control.

3. A closure inspecting device comprising a rigid support adapted tospan a pair of closure supporting tracks, an inspecting member mountedon said support above said tracks, a pivoted rocker arm mounted on saidsupport and engageable with said inspecting member to impart verticalreciprocatory motion thereto, electrical control means, a contact xed tosaid support, a contact carried by said inspecting member and engageablewith said fixed contact upon vertical motion of said inspecting memberto initiate said control means, a member having coincidental oscillatoryand reciprocatory movement for conveying closures in intermittent stepsalong said tracks to bring the same sequentially into position to beengaged by said inspection member, and means on said conveying memberengageable with said arm to impart rocking movement thereto.

4. A closure inspecting device in accordance with claim 3 in which theinspecting member, rocker arm, contacts and control means are allaffixed to the support so as to be removable from the closure supportingtrack mechanism as a unit.

5. A closure inspecting device comprising a closure support, a portionof said support at an inspection station being retractile to permitautomatic removal of inspected closures from said support, meansyieldingly urging said retractile portion to supporting position, aninspecting member adapted to engage a closure on said support at theinspection station, a pivoted rocker arm engageab'le with saidinspecting member to impart a predetermined, vertical reciprocatorymotion thereto, electrical control means for retracting said retractileportion of said support to eject an inspected closure therefrom, acontact carried by said inspecting member and engageable with a xedcontact to initiate said control means upon vertical motion of saidinspecting member to a predetermined position, a member havingcoincidental oscillatory and reciprocatory movement for sequentiallymoving closures along said support, and means on said last named memberengageable with said arm toimpart rocking movement thereto.

6. A closure inspecting device in accordance with claim 5 in which theinspecting member comprises a guide, an inspecting linger slidablewithin said guide, a control initiating member carried by and movablewith said nger, an operating slide encircling said finger, and yieldingmeans disposed between said slide and one end of said nger, wherebymovement of said nger is arrested upon its engagement with a closure onsaid closure support.

CLAIR MOWRER.

